I have a Ruger Bisley Vaquero in 44Mag, 5.5" tube and have found it to be amazing accurate at longer distances.

I've shot some targets at 250-300 yards with it and have been very impressed with the results. This is encouraging to me to see what iron sights can actually do at those longer distances and now I know that if presented with a 50-75 yard shot with that shooter it could be a done deal.

That said all the other big bore revolvers and autos that I have pale in comparison to this 44 Mag performance. These other revolvers and autos are sometimes many feet away from the performance of the .44. Since the same guy is shooting all the pistols there must be something about the specs on that gun that allow me to get those results.

Has anyone had a similar experience with their revolvers?

My success at handgun hunting was due to all the metallic silhouette matches I attended.I haven't done that recently but the experience still helps .Being able to hit the 200m target with iron sights makes 50-75 yd deer not a big deal. All my deer have been within 60 yds and have been one shot kills .This year and last standing ,within 2 seconds to raise , aim , and shoot.
Master the basics, practice, practice !! Stay away from hot loads ,just find an accurate one .

Once you get an accurate sixgun, you get spoiled Yes, not all handguns are capable of equal accuracy.

A properly loaded .45 Colt is higher up the food chain than a .44 Mag.

quote:

Originally posted by MS Hitman:
A properly loaded .45 Colt is higher up the food chain than a .44 Mag.

It might be higher up.... but if it can't hit anything what's the benefit?

I also have a 45 Colt Ruger Bisley and while it stays with the 44Mag in power and velocity the accuracy of that handgun isn't close to the 44Mag.

In fact through the chronograph the 44Mag will pull a 300g bullet faster than the 45 Colt can using a 300g bullet of the same design.

I like the 45, just like the 44 more.

Are the others useing a similar shaped bullet? The nose style and weight can effect how stable the bullet will be at longer distances.
At the big bore seminar John was telling me about some long range shooting they did over a wheat field and you could see some bullets start to tumble and vear off course. He said that on some just going up 10 gn in bullet weight would cause them to become unstable at long distance.
So if the gun is accurate at 100yds, but not at 300, then it might be the bullet, not the gun??

its only higher up the food chain if someone can say "dang it didn't die with caliber X, but it would've if i'd have shot it with caliber Y." if you can't say that then they're equal to each other on the food chain. seems to me that in his hands the .44 is higher up his food chain due to the accuracy provided.

quote:

Are the others useing a similar shaped bullet? The nose style and weight can effect how stable the bullet will be at longer distances.
At the big bore seminar John was telling me about some long range shooting they did over a wheat field and you could see some bullets start to tumble and vear off course. He said that on some just going up 10 gn in bullet weight would cause them to become unstable at long distance.
So if the gun is accurate at 100yds, but not at 300, then it might be the bullet, not the gun??


Lar45

I won't get into the .44 against .45 stuff because both are super. Both are just as accurate too.
Lar, you are correct but I have shot WLN and WFN boolits to 500 meters. What John says is true, it is always match to the twist, boolit length and a velocity match for the proper spin.
Revolver shooters always ignore twist and stability, trying to shoot very heavy boolits at 800 FPS or very light boolits at 1500 FPS.
If a heavy boolit goes unstable it is usually from a slow twist and a pressure and velocity limit with the caliber. Light boolits should not be over spun too much either.
It is like the 405 gr boolit from the .44 that will turn sideways at 50 yards or those trying to shoot 700 gr from the .500. Then a guy shoots 180 gr or lighter from the .44 at light speed. Not going to work!
But the meplat is blamed for poor judgement.
The .45 Colt can shoot 1" at 100 yards when balance is found.

quote:

Originally posted by Lar45:
Are the others useing a similar shaped bullet? The nose style and weight can effect how stable the bullet will be at longer distances.
At the big bore seminar John was telling me about some long range shooting they did over a wheat field and you could see some bullets start to tumble and vear off course. He said that on some just going up 10 gn in bullet weight would cause them to become unstable at long distance.
So if the gun is accurate at 100yds, but not at 300, then it might be the bullet, not the gun??

Thanks for the input, maybe a look at some different bullet weights in the 45 would help. I need to get around to trying some.

Both the 44Mag and 45Colt are using their respective bullets from the same manufacturer, same bullet style, same bullet weight (300g),same brass (Starline), same powder (H110) and last and least same shooter (Me).

I don't know about the twist rate on both of those Ruger shooters, maybe someone could chime in.

I think it's just a case of everything coming together under the right moon phase for the 44 and it's working great.

If the 45 were a rifle I would probably sell it but since it is a pistol and my expectations for it's accuracy really don't exceed that 50-75 yard range and the fact that it is an Old Vaquero in a Bisley, I'm going to keep it.

quote:

Originally posted by TEANCUM:

quote:

Originally posted by MS Hitman:
A properly loaded .45 Colt is higher up the food chain than a .44 Mag.

It might be higher up.... but if it can't hit anything what's the benefit?

I also have a 45 Colt Ruger Bisley and while it stays with the 44Mag in power and velocity the accuracy of that handgun isn't close to the 44Mag.

In fact through the chronograph the 44Mag will pull a 300g bullet faster than the 45 Colt can using a 300g bullet of the same design.

I like the 45, just like the 44 more.

Whether or not you can hit anything is immaterial to my statement. A Corvette is higher up the automobile food chain than a Nova regardless of how you drive.

quote:

Originally posted by tradmark:
its only higher up the food chain if someone can say "dang it didn't die with caliber X, but it would've if i'd have shot it with caliber Y." if you can't say that then they're equal to each other on the food chain. seems to me that in his hands the .44 is higher up his food chain due to the accuracy provided.

It appears to be more useful in his hands because he can hit with it. If he could drive a go-cart better, would it still be equal to a racecar? No, just more useful to him.

quote:

Originally posted by MS Hitman:

quote:

Originally posted by TEANCUM:

quote:

Originally posted by MS Hitman:
A properly loaded .45 Colt is higher up the food chain than a .44 Mag.

It might be higher up.... but if it can't hit anything what's the benefit?

I also have a 45 Colt Ruger Bisley and while it stays with the 44Mag in power and velocity the accuracy of that handgun isn't close to the 44Mag.

In fact through the chronograph the 44Mag will pull a 300g bullet faster than the 45 Colt can using a 300g bullet of the same design.

I like the 45, just like the 44 more.

Whether or not you can hit anything is immaterial to my statement. A Corvette is higher up the automobile food chain than a Nova regardless of how you drive.

I am not sure what food chain your reference are being made to or if you just want to back up your statement.

To follow your paradigm my buddies Nova could take most Corvettes with his motor. What does that prove?

In my world utility is more important than where you are on the menu. If a shooter won't group well for me, for the rifles, it's sold. In the pistol area I adjust my expectations to the design of the pistol that I have and it's relative value to me and the market.

Sounds like you love .45 Colts, I do too ... just love the 44Mag more. Not immaterial to me. Sorry.

quote:

Originally posted by TEANCUM:

I am not sure what food chain your reference are being made to or if you just want to back up your statement.

To follow your paradigm my buddies Nova could take most Corvettes with his motor. What does that prove?

In my world utility is more important than where you are on the menu. If a shooter won't group well for me, for the rifles, it's sold. In the pistol area I adjust my expectations to the design of the pistol that I have and it's relative value to me and the market.

Sounds like you love .45 Colts, I do too ... just love the 44Mag more. Not immaterial to me. Sorry.

Higher up on the food chain with regards to terminal performance. It makes a bigger hole. That is what Hitman was talking about.

Now, as far as the Nova comment concerned, he obviously wasn't comparing a stock 'Vette to Pro Mod Nova.......seriously.

My .45 Colt shoots slower then the .44 with boolits near the same weight. The reason is the 1 in 16" twist compared to the 1 in 20" of the .44. The Colt is 1160 FPS and the .44 is 1316 FPS.
Means nothing on game at all.
Try to take the heavy boolit in the .45 to 1300 and accuracy goes away. If you do, it will kill faster for sure but if you can't hit it is useless.
That is why the .454 has a slower 1 in 24" rate so you can shoot much faster.
Don't push boolits too slow or too fast for what the gun can stabilize.
Look at your revolver like a rifle. Take the .243 against the .244. The .244 was superior in every way but hey rifled it for varmints. The .243 had a faster twist so it shot heavy bullets for deer. If Rem would have offered the .244 with two twist rates, the .243 would have died off.
I just will never understand why revolver shooters think the guns can shoot anything they want.

quote:

Originally posted by bfrshooter:
I just will never understand why revolver shooters think the guns can shoot anything they want.

Becaue we want them to

The ATF won't let me own a 4 bore revolver, so I"m gonna have to get some 1/2" bar stock, seat it with a hammer and file the end flush with the cylinder.
I need more and bigger!!

Seriously tho, I heard that Taurus was looking into a 28ga Judge revolver for south american markets, but they didn't have another round to match it to. Wouldn't the 577 Snider be close enough? (still unpacking, don't know where my COTW book is). Cut down 28 ga brass fits my 577 double pistols.
I think I strayed off topic.

seriously comparing the difference b/w a 44 and 45 to a corvette and a nova or go kart? wow. well no one ever noticed a diff and neither has the game MS.

quote:

Originally posted by tradmark:
seriously comparing the difference b/w a 44 and 45 to a corvette and a nova or go kart? wow. well no one ever noticed a diff and neither has the game MS.

All this and you pull your own string too? Amazing!

keep repeating the same nonsense, it never gets old MS.

quote:

Originally posted by tradmark:
seriously comparing the difference b/w a 44 and 45 to a corvette and a nova or go kart? wow. well no one ever noticed a diff and neither has the game MS.

i killed a lot of critters with both a 44 magnum and a 45 colt and i can tell the difference in killin' power. the 45 makes bigger holes. if there was no difference than no one would shoot 454s or 460s. i can tell the difference.

quote:

Originally posted by tradmark:
keep repeating the same nonsense, it never gets old MS.

I was thinking the same thing about you tradmark; and you have gotten old.

Hey lads

My comments were not about a caliber comparison/debate like .44Mag vs. 45 Colt at all but rather about the difference between 2 Ruger Bisleys that were basically the same except for the caliber.

One is a tremendous shooter, the best to date for me in center-fires, the other is a stinker as in no accuracy. Just a simple comparison and an example of how almost identical revolvers can perform so differently.

IT'S NOT ABOUT CALIBERS IT'S ABOUT REVOLVERS !!!

TEANCUM,

I follow you.

My point with tradmark is that if he actually made some meaningful contributions to the forum the rest we'd overlook.

quote:

Originally posted by tradmark:
seriously comparing the difference b/w a 44 and 45 to a corvette and a nova or go kart? wow. well no one ever noticed a diff and neither has the game MS.

If you can't notice the difference in the 2 on game then you aren't paying attention or you simply have an inability to observe the obvious

Since you claim that there is no difference between a 44 mag and a 45, then why in heavens sake do you shoot a 454 instead of a 44? The 44 is cheaper to feed and easier to shoot and more pleasant.